Oh and do be sure to point out that her daughter got pregnant. After all I'm sure she is the only teenager to do so in the last few years. Also bring up her "retarded" child and that she really should have aborted/murdered him as any responsible liberal would have done.

This is great. I just wish the walls had been lined with stuffed animals. Some foxes, wolves, geese, ducks,salmon, moose heads. It would have been even better if she were wearing a fur coat.....but we can't have it all. The head explosions are going to be fun....getting popcorn for later.

"Snowmobile" is fine; it's just not Alaskan.Agree, but I think Alaskans must be touchy about this. During the campaign, McCain was on Leno talking about what a great guy Todd Palin was and how he drove snowmobiles. After saying "snowmobiles" he grimaced and said "snow machines". The impression I got was that he had been corrected before on this point and had immediately realized that he made a "mistake"

I watched that episode of American Chopper, including the OCC guys' visit with Sarah Palin.

It came across as very warm, non-political, and pleasant. Palin was happy to meet them, knew about their show and the bikes they build, knew why they were in Alaska, and happily chatted with them for a few minutes.

Paul Sr. and his team were respectful, cleaned up their language and showed a genuine interest in her state, in wildlife and in outdoor recreation.

It was all very nice, and not the sort of stiffly choreographed encounter with a governor that might occur in other states.

Palin speaks with an Alaskan accent. So what? Other than weenies from other parts of the country being able to make fun of her using their own peculiar accents, I mean.

It's a continuing source of amusement how liberal men get so unhinged by an attractive, outspoken conservative woman.

I would reccomend reading the derranged comments about this over at politico. It is both sad and distrubing. The fact that this woman gives so many people such a case of the vapors makes me love her more. Being outraged about Sarah Palin is way for the stupid and unsophisticated to appear less so.

It occurs to me (but obviously not to him) that Palin might not have much in the way of handlers. Why would a real governor of a real state even need such a thing? "Handlers" are for those in Permanent Campaign mode.

Re: Snow Machine -- I think of snow making machines at ski resorts, something probably unnecessary in Alaska. But I wonder what curious dialect suggests that an X machine is a machine you use on X. So are boats Water Machines? Who is the local etymologist?

Seriously, isn't it an interesting, and actually a sad, commentary on the progressives how they have to marginalize, trivialize and demean those they see as competitors.

By ridiculing her they put the picture out there that she is a fruitcake.

A fairly conservative Christian woman friend of mine was complaining after the election about how inapporiate she was (winking?) but also how stupid she was that she didn't know Africa was a continent.

I hastened to correct her on the latter and sent her the documentation on how that was a fabrication by two fake journalists / bloggers / pranksters.

But it gets out there (thanks MSM propogandists, you sweeties) and people do not take the time to look at specific issues, they swallow the strawman whole.

I'm surprised that PinchingLoaf has been able to resist the inexorable pull of Sarah Palin's pussy for over 40 comments. I'm sure he'll be along soon. This woman is an itch that PinchingLoaf and his pals just have to scratch.

Seriously, isn't it an interesting, and actually a sad, commentary on the progressives how they have to marginalize, trivialize and demean those they see as competitors.

By ridiculing her they put the picture out there that she is a fruitcake.

It is central to their strategy, one the John Stewart media and all the Soros blogs are more than happy to play along with. If you want to destroy an organization, you target its leadership. You suck the oxygen out of its leadership positions. You personally target and destroy anyone who starts to gain some popularity. With the willing participartion of the media lapdogs and the nearly unlimited campaign funds certain to accrue from ownership of a vast plurality of the nation's GDP, the Party will be virtually unassailable until it self-destructs.

Yes, the bearskin was of a bear killed by her father. Bears in Alaska aren't really interested in just your pic-a-nic baskets, Boo-Boo, they are a true hazard and danger when they are in your neighborhood. I don't think the circumstances of the bear's shooting have been detailed, but it's very possible that her dad shot the bear so it wouldn't be a danger to the family, especially the kids.

As for keeping the skin, Alaska is a frontier state, with frontier folkways. It's probable that most families in Alaska have animal skins/furs in their homes, and Palin is probably proud of her dad for killing the bear, as any well-raised daughter would be in a frontier community.

You all crack me up. Did you not see the interview where she could not name a Supreme Court case and could not name books or newspapers she reads regularly? Trust me, the left would happily welcome Palin 2012. So will Tina Fey.

Seems to me that her handling by handlers in the McCain campaign was a big part of her major stumbles.

They tried to push her into being a certain sort, to match Washington expectations, and in doing that made her neither herself, nor a good candidate, and took away from her the very things that McCain needed from her. That and the fact she had to answer for McCain and follow his lead on policy, when it's probably much more the case it should have been the other way around.

As for keeping the skin, Alaska is a frontier state, with frontier folkways..

Well that's the problem with the left. Frontier folksy stuff isn't chic when done by white folks in a modern nation. If you live in a log cabin house and hunt your own food you're a redneck. On the other hand if you live in a grass hut and hunt monkeys with a blowgun in the Amazon while wearing a loin cloth that's fucking cool and hip.

I didn’t expect I’d be the only one who feels the urge to throw that bearskin on the floor with Governor Palin, Elizabeth Edwards and Rielle Hunter all on their hands and knees getting it grand Bissage-style.

And you know what? Now that I think about it, let’s flip over all the cards and throw John Edwards into the mix, as well.

Well that's the problem with the left. Frontier folksy stuff isn't chic when done by white folks in a modern nation. If you live in a log cabin house and hunt your own food you're a redneck. On the other hand if you live in a grass hut and hunt monkeys with a blowgun in the Amazon while wearing a loin cloth that's fucking cool and hip.I think it's more, you live in a small house, canning your own vegetables, listening to country music and shooting game, you're a redneck and must be marginalized.

If you have an organic garden, covered with your hand-created mulch (including steralized "personal" waste), listen to Prairie Home Companion because it's so "authentic", and wearing clothes from Goodwill even though you could afford better, then you're a good person living a "sustainable" lifestyle.

Sorry to break it to you, but I don't hang on your every word. Especially when you put words in my mouth and expect me to defend them.

Like this "elitist political class" thing. Uh, I'm not for it. As a matter of fact, I was composing a "smash the oligarchy" post when I saw this headline at TPM:

"Obama Names Rep. Clyburn's Daughter To FCC"

But Palin has nothing to do with an "elitist political class." That's a non sequiter by you, an evasion.

One could be passably smart, not be patronizing and still not be an elite.

Palin is dumb as a pile of bricks.

1:24 PM.

It's not putting words on your mouth. It's call asking for clarification on the implications of your statements. You still haven't clarified whether you want One Party Rule for this country. So, I am free to assume whatever I wish.

And, yes, Palin does not have anything to do with an elitist political class. That's why you loathe her so much.

One could be passably smart, not be patronizing and still not be an elite.

Palin is dumb as a pile of bricks.

This is just your fantasy.

What is your basis for saying this? I'm very certain it's entirely superficial crap. People make mistakes and do dumb things sometimes. That's just part of being human. You just can't cherry-pick every silly thing a person does and declare them "stupid." By that standard, the only "smart" people are the ones that simply manage to hide all their mistakes. That's both wrongheaded and dangerous.

Here in this place we call "reality," it's actually pretty rare to be successful without possessing a reasonable amount of intelligence. That intelligence, of course, can manifest in any number of ways: great artistic sensibility, great analytical capability, great communication ability, great leadership ability, and so on.

Are you so perfect, Alpha-Liberal, that you have never made a mistake? Never embarrassed yourself? Never said something stupid? Pretty much all of us had, so what makes us okay and Palin dumb? The fact that nobody was taping us and mocking us on national television?

Whatever. You have your beliefs and are entitled to them. Freedom of religion and all that.

"We realize that more and more Americans are starting to see the light there and understand the contrast. And we talk a lot about, OK, we're confident that we're going to win on Tuesday, so from there, the first 100 days, how are we going to kick in the plan that will get this economy back on the right track and really shore up the strategies that we need over in Iraq and Iran to win these wars?" --Sarah Palin, suggesting we are at war with Iran, FOX News interview, Nov. 1, 2008

"All of 'em, any of 'em that have been in front of me over all these years." --Sarah Palin, unable to name a single newspaper or magazine she reads, interview with Katie Couric, CBS News, Oct. 1, 2008 (Watch video clip)

"I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you." --Sarah Palin, asked by Katie Couric to cite specific examples of how John McCain has pushed for more regulation in his 26 years in the Senate, CBS News interview, Sept. 24, 2008 (Watch video clip)

"Well, it certainly does because our -- our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia ... We have trade missions back and forth. We-- we do-- it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where-- where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is-- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to-- to our state." --Sarah Palin, asked by Katie Couric how Alaska's proximity to Russia gives her foreign policy experience, CBS News interview, Sept. 24, 2008

". . .I'm going to swoon, I'm so offended. 2012 is just around the corner."

Yes it is, Beth, and with any luck, Black Narcissus will find himself crippled by the loss of his stooges and useful idiots in the House and Senate. But I don't hold out too much hope for that. The vast majority of Americans have decided they want Mommy Government to change their diapers, so there it is.

And as for Sarah Palin? Well, for all the sneers that she's a subliterate snowbilly whose only reason for not humping her daughter's boyfriends is because she's too busy cooking meth and popping out retards - she is governor of her state. Since when has that been absolutely no evidence of capability? Is is just because she doesn't run a cool, thoughtful, intelligent state like Massachusetts or Vermont or New York?

I dearly wish those dismissing Palin would try to match her career. Run for city council. Get elected twice. Run for mayor. Get elected twice. Chair the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in your state. Run for governor. Get elected. After all, if somebody as "dumb as a pile of bricks" in AL's felicitous phrase) can do it, surely it ought to be child's play for such intellectual titans as the port-side Althouse posters.

Sarah Palin, the only politician to pose for a photo op in front of a turkey slaughter.Because she's so fucken brilliant.

No, because real life happens even in the background of photo ops.

Real turkeys are slaughtered to put food on the table. Just because she didn't vapor lock and have a heebie jeebie fit because some some guy in the background, who was working and making a living, happened to be seen....ZOMG....actually killing turkeys, you somehow think that everyone who isn't a pantywaisted, tassle toed, latte sipping liberal is offended.

Personally, I felt it was real, appropriate and not gory or offensive. Now then.....if they had been chopping off the bird's heads and let them run around spurting blood all over the place, then it would be a different story. Instead, what we saw was a humane slaughtering process.

Woooaaaah! Talk about moving the goalposts! So, let me get this correct: you are stating here, for the record, that you are not smart enough to run for President? Doesn't that make you "dumb as a pile of bricks?"

Maybe I should channel your friend Jeremy here, mmm, let me try...

"Well how many states have YOU been governor of, huh AlphaLiberal, huh? How many elections have YOU won? Put them up here so we can all know how much smarter you are than Gov. Palin!"

"It's not just going to Mexico. If you're any place in a confined aircraft and one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft", he told Matt Lauer "That's me. I would not be, at this point, if they had another way of transportation, suggesting they ride the subway."

That sofa reminds me of a smallish house I visited in Aspen. It was owned by a woman who at the time was divorcing a man connected somehow to MOMA. Along with rare impossible if not illegal to import objects scattered around the house like trinkets, pre-Columbian ceramics and such, the living room was every inch devoted to safari. Three antelope heads were mounted high on a wall opposite a large window that opened to Ajax Mountain. It appeared as if the three deer were enjoying the view. I recall a huge chandelier constructed from a pile of antlers, the sort you've seen many times, but this one was beyond elaborate, leopard pattern carved into a wooden coffee table with feline legs, leopard pattern sofa, zebra pattern rug, animal pattern chairs. Every object in the room was animal-related but oddest, most macabre of all and scariest, a very heavy real skull of a tiger held together by ornately decorated silver insets, which without its muscle and skin appears to be a saber-tooth tiger. Best though, and least offensive, is an African black feather headdress much like an American Indian chief's headdress except all black feathers, splayed flat against a large black mat so that the pattern showed by the contrast between glossy feathers and flat background along with the meager bead work and woven bits with dark thin leather strips, and strands of black animal hair on the feather tips, mounted in a Plexiglass frame. I studied it, mostly to distract myself from the taxidermy and also so I might copy it. By way of hobby, this couple also owned a shop in the town where they marketed some of the more accessible items seen in the house. It is an exceedingly strange living room and left a permanent impression on me, but not even close to weirdness as that creepy-ass giant bear pictured here.

I gotta admit, I love Palin. I disagree with her alot and don't want her to be President, but I do love her.

She is not handled. She's just in your face - "This is me, take it or leave it." I love that. How much better would this country be if our "politians" could just say what they really think and let people decide?

She's obviously capable. This is part of what drives the lib's nuts.

I love the effect she has on them. It might be worth it for her to be President just to listen to them moan and wail. Hell, she could not be worse than the pinko, commie, fascist currently ruining the country.

JAL said... "But it gets out there (thanks MSM propogandists, you sweeties) and people do not take the time to look at specific issues, they swallow the strawman whole."

That makes no sense. Did you just set out to use MSM, propogangists in a sentence but forget that it has to make sense? What specfic issues do you have in mind? Describe the "strawman" you think is being swallowed whole...

The idea that someone, anyone, takes her seriously is far past scary....by God, what would we call her? President Ditz?

Palin is a moron. What, it took her until her forties to become a popular state governor? Anyone could do that, especially someone "clean and articulate" who was given a free ride by the Alaskan political machine.

BTW, what is wrong with Minnesota? I thought that was on the liberal love-list with Al Franken, having gone for Mondale in '84? Suddenly because Palin has a Minnesota-type accent, they hate on it? What is wrong with you people?

Here's a clip from her twitter: http://gov.state.ak.us/video_EmmonakJobFairlg.php

on an Alaskan Job Fair - listen to it. That *is* an Alaskan accent - dropping the g's etc, the "here's".

If her constituents with their "folksy ways" were non-white, no one would dare have an open problem with someone in government connecting with them because to mock it would be obvious racism- or really classism with a rainbow mask.

I read comments on this blog until the become stupid bickering. Alpha Liberal does an excellent job of hijacking threads. When I see that name on a second comment, I simply stop reading. Same goes for a couple other commenters. I like good give and take, but stupid bickering isn't it.

"She is not handled. She's just in your face - "This is me, take it or leave it." I love that. How much better would this country be if our "politians" could just say what they really think and let people decide?"

Well... people sure liked that Obama was lying all the time. And if you figure that's what people admire then they aren't going to like Palin, are they? First, of course, she's supposed to have the correct thoughts on subjects... and then she's supposed to lie about them in order to get the masses to vote for her, while the fact that she's lying comforts those who consider themselves enlightened or elite.

Like Obama over gay marriage and whatever else.

Her *handlers* are supposed to give her the correct script and make sure she does the right things and soothes the right ideologies.

I think she has sense. She did the American Chopper thing the way she ought to have, emphasizing Alaska's 50th the way she ought, and she looks really good in that shade of green.

Well you can fully see lefty logic in full bloom when Palin is the subject. She's stupid, a ditz, a moron, totally unqualified to hold office as VP yet turn around and think Joe Biden is some kind of intellectual.

Hey did you know you can't walk in a 7-11 and not hear an Indian accent? I'm not jokin.

And it *is* it truly is a wonder and a joy to hear people who self identify as "liberal" spew classist drivel putting so much to the lie the fantasy that liberals are the champion of the common man.

Oh, but they are. They totally love the common man. Just so long as he doesn't go thinking he's smart enough to participate in his government. In fact, such thinking proves he's dumb as bricks, and thus obviously not smart enough to govern. The common man simply isn't fit to govern, unless he abdicates his thinking to the proper authorities.

Hey Hoosier...Talk about politically incorrect and insensitive. I'm taking my personal pet orphan into WSG and EoTS and planning to let him see real mayhem that will make those slaughtered turkeys look like a video game. THEN. I'm going to eat chocolate cake right in front of him after I make the little bstd run all the way to Gadgetzan from Ogrimar

On Palin's popularity: 64% very or somewhat positive vs 32% very or somewhat negative. That's AFTER the war the media has waged against her. Yeah, I don't see why she bothers to get out of bed in the morning. LOL

She's stupid, a ditz, a moron, totally unqualified to hold office as VP yet turn around and think Joe Biden is some kind of intellectual.

They don't really think that. Biden is just assassination insurance - nobody on the planet except Biden himself wants him to be president. Obama doesn't need security at all - he would be safe at a KKK rally. All those hooded Kleagles and Wizards and stuff would be moving obstacles out of his path in case he should trip and injure himself.

I'm wondering what the approval rating would be for Obama and Biden if they had been subjected to the same kind of press scrutiny that Palin was. It isn't like there wasn't plenty of ammo. Speaking of Biden and the constitution, there were a couple of times he referred to it for specific points and was wrong both times. That was probably the basis for the remark that Palin knew more about it that Biden does. 5000 years from now, archaeologists will know there was a President named Obama (some sort of a man-God) but not much else. They will know everything down to the size of the socks they wear of Gov. Palin and some guy named Joe that apparently was a plumber.

BTW, Palin's high approval ratings in AK do not mean she's good for America. Most Americans do not agree with her Creationist and anti-choice stands.So then it logically follows that only a pro-abortion atheist can now be "good for America"?

So then it logically follows that only a pro-abortion atheist can now be "good for America"?America is not yet ready to accept an open atheist for President. However, most Americans are pro-choice. Obama is religious and pro-choice, that's proof enough of where America is. At least 53%.

Where did you get that idea? From the black power political rallies he attended each Sunday in Chicago, the ones he said he never paid attention to?That he attended a church for 20 years, no? Maybe he's not religious in a way that you approve of - but he does believe in a deity.

Yep, liberals vote based on intelligence and charisma while conservatives vote more on ideology and character.

Liberals like to congratulate themselves for voting on intelligence. The fact that they have this mutual "you're soooooo smart" society going has nothing to do with actual intelligence. I remember the press waxing on about how much smarter Gore and Kerry were than Bush. And yet Bush got better grades and did better on standardized tests than either of them (much better, in Kerry's case).

Funny, I took nearly six years and four different schools to complete my first degree, but I'm certain it was because I was poor, not because I was dumb. I also got a law degree without any trouble (and without the benefit of affirmative action), but, alas, that was my fifth school and by AL logic evidence of dumbness. Ay, caramba!

Sarah Palin is the daughter of a school teacher. Todd Palin comes from humble beginnings and has not completed college. Nevertheless, they have been successful at virtually everything they have tried. Their wealth is a tribute to just how much they do "understand" about hard work and earning a living, while raising five kids and providing considerable public service.

Would I be going out on a limb here, Alpha, to assert that you and the other liberal twits who post here can claim no such record of accomplishments for yourselves?

Alex wrote: "I'm not exactly a huge fan of Palin, with her Christianist shtick ...." And, later, "Most Americans do not agree with her Creationist and anti-choice stands."

Why don't you give the anti-Christian BS a rest. Presumably, you are not an Andrew Sullivan understudy. Palin didn't push her faith on anybody and one need not be religious to be apalled by abortion.

Alex also wrote: "Obama is religious and pro-choice, that's proof enough of where America is. At least 53%."

Obama professes to be religious and to "believe in a deity" (Alex again), just like he professes to be untouched by the Daley machine. Professing proves nothing. Moreover, his commitment to abortion as public policy goes far beyond that of a majority of Americans

That picture doesn't phase me at all. I grew up in Wisconsin where deer hunting is a religion.

My house if full of animal heads. I said head. My father is a wild game hunter and has a place in Big Sky Montana and Northern Wisconsin. I would go to the meat market with my dad and choose what we wanted to do with the meat. Hamburgers, Barbecue, Steaks, Beef Jerky. We would hang the beef jerky all over the garage.

There are pictures of my dad and I and a deer hanging in our garage and spread out over the truck.

We have antlers of every kind in our house along with a moose head, antelope head, white tail deer head, mule deer head, bear head and every kind of fish you can imagine. Also, we have pheasants, partridge with their tails sprayed open, quail, goose and ducks stuffed. My dad's hunting room is loaded with all kinds of that stuff. The heads are "framed" by the state in which they were killed. Oh and pictures of springer spaniels and deer from some famous painter from Wisconsin named (I am going to spell it wrong) Owen Grambe.

When I was little I used to french kiss the animals and stick my peepee in their mouths, but I told that story already.

America is not yet ready to accept an open atheist for President. However, most Americans are pro-choice. Obama is religious and pro-choice, that's proof enough of where America is. At least 53%."

As I said... some people want a liar.

Clearly.

They want an Obama who believes all the correct things and can be counted on not to worry overmuch about the unborn and *certainly* not actually really believe the Christian faith he professes. But they want him to say the nice words about how he believes that there is more to pro-life than just wanting to oppress women... because they know he'll approve any level of access to abortion up to birth. They want him to profess Christianity without any fear whatsoever that he actually believes any of that stuff, so long as he makes the right noises. And he gets a pass on gay marriage, utterly, because even if he says exactly the same words, there is comfort in the knowledge that what he says has little or nothing to do with what he believes is true.

Palin, OTOH, is frightening because even if she says nothing more and nothing more radical than Obama has said about her faith or the place it has in public service, it's assumed that she's not a liar at all, but is telling the truth. She can support same-sex-partner benefits for State employees and clearly state that she doesn't want Creationism taught in public schools, but she's frightening because she's not lying.

Obama could be polite to a guest speaker preacher from Africa and have prayers of protection said over him with out leaping back and shouting, "Get away from me you freak!"

Palin can't.

And all because no one believes him for a moment about what he professes to believe about *anything*.

All of this stuff about Palin today, does anyone find it funny that she seems to be the only one not wallowing in the past? I'm not saying that's always bad, it's just that she has, and is, getting the best revenge on this episode - by moving forward, and apparently by doing rather well.

But I'm still stuck on the election, and I let my blood boil thinking about how shabbily she was treated by the MSM, the elites, and worst of all, by McCain. It doesn't do my health any good to continue to revisit that time. Levity helps, so, since no one asked, the punchline is:

"When after two months in the wilderness Todd staggered back to town looking for that native Alaskan to kill, they decided to waive the rest of the test."

Said Alpha Liberal : And, she's dumb...And she thinks Alaska is a sovereign state."For I voted for Alaska to be a sovereign state..." said JFK, Sept 3, 1960. Will Alpha Liberal denounce Kennedy as dumb or will Alpha Liberal claim he mistook Alaska for the territory Puerto Rico (places where people speak with an accent all look alike to him).

Liberals and Democrats should be the happiest, calmest, most self-assured people in this country right now. Overwhelming majorities in the Congress and the White House - the whole Kit and caboodle. Republicans can't possibly stop the good times if they want to.

And yet . . . .,

There's that nagging feeling . . .

that the "majority" public - that "smart" part of the electorate - can still turn on them, and leave tham outside the candy shop again; in a flash. It's all so tenous.

And liberals and Democrats know it.

In one week, the "voting population" that welcomed into the city and praised Christ as the "King of Kings" turned on the same one and "voted" to put him to death.

In just seven days.

Naw, the public never turns. The majority has "learned", hasn't it?

So if you are a Liberal, Democrat, or both, keep looking over your shoulder. But I don't have to tell you that. You're already doing it. That's why liberals and Democrats get so worked up on blogs like this. They are never sure that the "good times" will last.

Isn't some guy from OCC married to Sandra Bullock? I thought he was a flaming liberal?Jesse James (Monster Garage, owner West Coast Choppers, on Celebrity Apprentice this season) is the lucky one married to Sandra Bullock. I've never heard him say anything regarding politics.

I'll say good things about Sandra Bullock. Her parents, both musicians, raised her well. She donated more than $100K to help rebuild Warren Easton High School in New Orleans, and attended the kids' graduation ceremony. They have a great marching band and the banner they carried in Mardi Gras parades this year read "Thank You, Sandra Bullock!" She and her husband sound like good people.

I just tend to admire people in their position who remain level-headed. I'd read about her other charitable giving post 9/11, sunami and so on. But seeing that banner come by in a parade this year was extra cool.

The first Mardi Gras after the storm, most bands didn't march at all. The kids were finishing up the year somewhere out of town. The ones that were back had lost their instruments and uniforms. Several schools combined to have two or three bands big enough to march, and used borrowed or donated instruments. The kids wore cheap track suits so at least they'd all match. But they played!

Over the last couple of years, the schools are returning to some normalcy - and this year I loved seeing kids in real uniforms playing new instruments, following behind high-stepping drum majors. I'm sure most of Bullock's money went to academic and building costs, but it was classy of the band to carry that banner through the streets where hundreds of thousands of people could see it.

@alphaliberal Classism is about where you came from, who you came from, where you went to school etc. not purely what you have or don't. It's not a straight money question and you know it. Palin is poor compared to most media types and a pauper compared to most of Washington. I hope she makes out like a bandit.

"The motorcycle maker visited American soldiers outside Baghdad, Iraq - and is convinced the majority of the US military agree with him." [I think not.]

From democraticunderground:

James says, "Everyone in Iraq knows Bush is a d**khead. He's the boss' kid."Everybody I know who has a successful business who has a kid - the kid is always a f**khead. Have you ever noticed that?"

So hubby didn't think much of GWB. But I think he should have watched his mouth by assuming everyone in Iraq who liked his motorcycles thought GWB was -- well, you read it. (Spoken as a mother of an Army guy.)

That being said -- I really do like Sandra Bullock, and I see her as a Hollywood person with common sense and a generous heart who doesn't seem to let the celebrity gig entitle her to be our conscience.

I think that Carrie Prejean is better than Palin at thinking on her feet. Maybe the conservatives should start grooming her for a presidential run. CA governor has been a good launching pad. She could be the next-next Reagan/Thatcher (since Palin is already the next Reagan/Thatcher).

They serve the country, not the man holding office. I've heard pro-W and anti-W from service members, current and former, along the way. Of the three vets in my immediate family, two would have said pretty much the same thing the motorcycle guy said, and the other disliked Kerry much more. So maybe he spoke for some and not for others.

No, JAL, I don't think he's speaking for anyone - nor do I feel he should "watch his mouth," even is he's exaggerating or just plain wrong.

I also don't think voting for McCain says much about one's feelings for Bush - McCain's service speaks for itself.

Military service is the norm in my family, going back to the Indian wars preceding the Revolution, and so is a diverse range of political positions, so maybe I'm viewing things through a particular lens. We've never equated political opinions with any kind of loyalty to a particular leader.

In all the generations of service, I don't there's been more than one officer in my direct family. My dad made Warrant Officer a few times but kept getting busted down - he wasn't good at keeping his mouth shut, and avoiding fisticuffs. He did not trust the ranking crowd, all the way up to the Joint Chiefs.